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The Enphase IQ Smart Electric Vehicle Chargers

Introduction

Did you know that Enphase Energy, whose microinverter and energy storage products we’ve been installing for years also makes electric vehicle chargers?

Read on to learn the details of why you might choose an Enphase smart EV charging solution for your home, if you either have an electric vehicle (EV)  now or plan to purchase one in the near future.

In January 2022, Enphase finalized their acquisition of ClipperCreek. ClipperCreek has made high-quality, very sturdy EV chargers since 2006. However, the chargers didn’t include “smart” features such as connection to wifi, charging on a schedule, or an app to start or stop charging.  

Over the past couple of years, Enphase has been working to add to the solid foundation that Clipper Creek built. In late August of last year, I participated in a beta installation of their new Enphase IQ Charger, and we started installing these products after they became commercially available in October of 2023.

An Enphase IQ 50 EV charger installed at my home

What is an EV charger?

EV chargers, also sometimes called EVSE (for Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment), are the products that act as an interface between your home’s electrical infrastructure and your electric vehicle. They take 120VAC (for level one slow charging) from a standard electrical receptacle or 240VAC (for faster level 2 charging) from your main electrical panel or a special receptacle, and pass that electricity to a J1772 plug, which you insert into your EV’s charging port. Inside your EV, the charging port is connected to an internal charger that converts the AC electricity to an appropriate DC voltage to charge the vehicle’s battery.

The Enphase IQ charger’s J1772 plug connected to my 2016 Nissan Leaf

For simple EV chargers (like those made by ClipperCreek in the past), you’d just plug in your car when you needed a charge, and you might use charging timers or electronics within the vehicle to change when you start charging, the charge duration, or if to charge the battery fully or only partially full.

Why Choose an Enphase IQ EV Charger?

Smart EV chargers can have a multitude of additional features. They’ll connect to your wifi network, and may allow you to start or stop charging from an app on your phone, set up daily schedules for charging, monitor the energy used by your EV charger, etc.

In the case of the Enphase IQ Charger, it has all these features, and more. Let’s go through all the current features, and discuss what the future might hold.

First, this charger is internet connected, and integrates into the existing Enphase Enlighten app and ecosystem. When the charger is installed, your installer will connect it to your wifi. From either the Enlighten app or Enlighten on your computer, you’ll be able to manually turn the charger off and on.

A screenshot of the Enlighten app showing how the charger can be manually turned on and off

We believe that the self-consumption mode is probably the most important and helpful feature for those of us who already have or plan to install solar electric systems with Enphase microinverters. In Arizona, we’ve had export rates for solar customers for several years, which means that you are only credited a fraction of the retail rate for any energy you send to the grid. But if you can use solar energy as it’s generated, you can avoid buying expensive electricity, and save more money.

If your solar electric system has energy consumption monitoring (which we install as standard) and you install an Enphase IQ EV charger, you can set the charger to operate in self-consumption mode. When you’re home, you keep your EV charger plugged into your vehicle. In this mode, the Enphase IQ Gateway (which used to be called the “Envoy”) will monitor your energy consumption in your home, as well as solar production. 

When there is “extra” solar energy available that’s being exported to the grid, the IQ EV charger will be commanded to start charging your vehicle with solar energy. 

The Enphase IQ EV charger in self consumption mode

The charger can ramp the charging rate up and down, at 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% of maximum charger rate, to maximize EV charging from solar, and minimize any energy imported from the grid. In the image above, we can see the charger adjust the charging rate several times, depending on what the energy use of other loads are in the home and what the solar output is. When a large electrical load is turned on mid-afternoon for about 30 minutes, the charger takes a break from charging until the load is turned off. It’s a really smart system!

For new solar customers, it can make a significant difference in the cost to charge your vehicle, and enables better utilization of your solar electric system. Of course, this will only be a big benefit for folks whose electric car or truck is at home during the day when the solar electric system is producing energy.

What if your car doesn’t charge fully during the day, and you want to start your next day with a fully charged battery? This is where what Enphase calls “Add-on schedules” come in. You can set up the charger to either charge the battery when electricity rates are lowest (typically in the late evening or early morning), or simply tell the charger to charge during a particular time period, for example 12:00am-7:00am. This provides a great deal of confidence that you’ll start your day with a full battery, ready for whatever comes your way.

The IQ EV charger in self-consumption mode, with an add-on schedule starting in the evening

Beyond the big features of control, self-consumption, and scheduled charging, there are a couple more small features worth mentioning.

The IQ EV Charger also has what Enphase calls “Storm Guard.” This feature charges your EV using solar and/or the grid anytime severe weather conditions are predicted.

The charger can also be installed in conjunction with an energy storage system to allow charging of your EV when the grid is down, however, this does require additional hardware that increases cost.

Last, this is a really sturdy, high quality product. It’s rated for indoor or outdoor use, with a NEMA 4 watertight rating. We still recommend installing it in a garage or carport if possible, out of direct sunlight and rain, for best longevity. The charger also includes all the important safety features, including ground fault detection.

Installation Details and Costs

By now, you might be wondering–should I see about having this charger installed? What’s the installation process like? Is it worth it? And how much will it cost? 

First, let’s talk a bit about what we have to do to install this charger. The first step is to make sure that your existing electrical infrastructure can handle the added load. EV chargers are a big load. These chargers can continuously draw 32A or 40A for a typical charger, or even 48A or 64A for the larger units. So for a typical IQ 50 EV charger, we’re talking about 40A, or a 9.6kW load.

Note that the model numbers of these chargers refer to size of the circuit breaker they are connected to, not the continuous charge rate. The maximum continuous charge rate will be 80% of the breaker size. 

Depending on what other electrical loads you have in your home, and the size of your current electrical panel, you may or may not be able to add an EV charger. So we’ll need to take a look at your electrical panel, as well as the nameplates of any big loads such as air conditioners, electric stoves, dryers, etc. We will then do a set of calculations per the National Electrical Code to determine if we can install a charger, often called “load calcs.”

In addition to the details on Enlighten, the charger
also has simple indicators on the unit itself

If everything looks good with the load calculations, we’ll proceed to procure a building permit, and do the actual installation. The installation includes placing an appropriately sized circuit breaker in your electrical panel, running wire and conduit to the desired charger location, connecting the charger to the wire, and commissioning the charger. 

Is it worth it? We believe that if you have or plan to have a solar electric and/or energy storage system with Enphase products, it makes a lot of sense to have your EV charger also be from Enphase, due to the benefits we shared above. If you already have an EV charger from another manufacturer, it’s a bit more difficult to justify in monetary terms, but the benefits of having an integrated system are still significant.

The most cost-effective way for us to install a Enphase IQ EV Charger for you is to do it in conjunction with the installation of a solar electric system or energy storage system. This is because we can add on a few hours of our technicians’ time for the EV charger installation to the other work, without having to send them out for a separate visit. And we can also typically include the EV charger on the same building permit as the solar or storage.

he IQ 50 EV Charger with my 2016 Nissan Leaf

For an IQ 50 EV charger installed with new solar or storage, installed costs currently start at around $1,600, while longer wire runs may add $300-600 in costs.

If we’re adding an EV charger to an existing system, an IQ 50 EV charger starts at about $2,000, if you’re able to help us with scoping the installation by gathering some information and sending it over to us. For longer wire runs, or if you need an onsite evaluation, the costs are higher.

Larger chargers like the IQ 60 and IQ 80 require bigger wiring and more capacity in your electric system, and will cost more, but are not needed for most electric vehicles. You can figure out what might be a good option for your current or future EV by using Enphase’s Find an EV Charger tool.

At the time of this writing, we are happy to install chargers for our new clients installing solar and/or energy storage, and for our existing clients with Enphase microinverters. 

What About Bidirectional Charging?

Bidirectional charging is when an EV charger not only sends power to a vehicle, but can also take energy from the batteries, send it to the home (vehicle to home), and even the grid (vehicle to grid). 

Especially for those with energy storage systems, this will be revolutionary. For example, what if you have a battery system with 10 kWh of stationary storage, but you had a Rivian R1T with the standard amount of storage? You could access 105kWh of energy from your truck in the case of an extended outage!

Enphase is currently developing these products. Although they aren’t available yet, Enphase plans to bring them to market this year. You can learn more on their Bidirectional EV Charging page, or follow our social media for updates. 

Interested or Have Questions?

If you’re interested in having an Enphase IQ EV Charger installed on your home, either with an existing Enphase solar electric system, or with a new solar and/or storage system, please contact us or call us at 520-207-4053.

If you have questions, please share them below in the comments!

Will Solar Make My Electric Bill Zero?

We all see the ads on Facebook, Youtube, or Instagram that promise “zero electric bills with solar,” or that homeowners can “eliminate their electric bills.” You’re probably wondering–is this too good to be true? Although it’s technically possible to design a solar electric system to reduce your bill to virtually zero, it’s a bad idea. Read along to learn why.

A solar electric system in Tucson

Solar is a great investment. But many solar companies are either misinformed or deliberately obscure how solar savings actually works in Arizona. They confuse consumers and set up unreasonable expectations of what solar electric systems will do.

A recent ad from Facebook making the claim you want to eliminate your electric bill with solar (information redacted to protect the guilty)

Net Zero Solar has been installing solar electric systems in southern Arizona for almost fifteen years, and several of our owners and employees have twenty-plus years of experience in renewable energy. We want to share the real deal on solar savings and solar sizing, so that you don’t get taken for an unexpected ride. 

We’ll share how solar saves you money, explain some strategies for properly sizing your solar electric system, and explain some reasons you might want a system to produce more electricity than you currently use.

How Solar Saves You Money

A home with a solar electric system operates in three different ways, depending on how much electricity you are using in the home, and how much the solar electric system is producing.

First, at night or during cloudy times, you’ll import electricity from the utility grid, and you’ll pay the retail rate for the electricity. For Tucson Electric Power, that retail rate averages about 15¢ per kilowatt-hour, or kWh.

When the solar electric system is generating electricity and you need that electricity in your home, you’ll use the energy from the solar immediately, and you’ll avoid buying expensive electricity from TEP. This is called “Self-Generation.” Depending on how many electrical loads you have on in your house, you may also import some energy from the grid at the same time.

Last, if you have “extra” electricity from your solar electric system that you aren’t immediately using in your home through self-generation, you’ll export that energy to your utility. But due to utility pushback on customer-owned solar electric systems, you won’t be compensated for that energy at retail rates, even though it will be going directly to your neighbors, and TEP will be charging your neighbors retail rates for that electricity. Instead, you’ll be credited at an “export rate” that’s significantly lower than retail rates. For example, TEP’s current export rate is 7.03¢ per kWh, or about 45% of retail rate. Other utilities in southern Arizona have even lower export rates. Trico’s current export rate is 4.093¢/kwh, SSVEC’s is 4.202¢/kWh, and Unisource has an export rate of 8.39¢/kWh.

But what will your bill be? The export rate system means that with solar on your home, you save money and reduce your bill in two ways. Self-generation brings the greatest savings–you’re avoiding buying expensive electricity at retail rates from TEP, where you pay for the electricity plus taxes and fees. Exported energy does provide you a financial benefit, but it’s much less, because you’re only compensated at the much lower export rate.

At the end of your billing cycle, TEP will charge you for all the electricity you imported from them, including 8-11% taxes, and some additional fees, and a monthly basic service fee of $10-12. Then they will provide you with a bill credit based on the energy you’ve exported.

Let’s look at a day for a solar customer with a 1,100 square foot home, a heat pump, and an electric car:

A solar homeowner’s electricity use, solar production, and energy imports & exports for a day.

The graph shows energy consumption (orange), solar production (blue), and energy imported (gray above the line) and exported (gray below the line). You can see that the electric car is charging overnight, and the solar produced a lot of electricity during the day. For this day, the customer imported 15.4 kWh electricity, costing them about $2.51 with taxes. They self-generated 8.1 kWh of energy, saving about $1.32 on their bill. And last, they exported 27.4 kWh, which reduced their bill by $1.92. Even though the amount of energy they exported is about three times more than the amount of self-generated energy, the bill savings from exported energy is only 145% of that from self-generated energy. We see that maximizing self-generation is the goal for maximum savings from solar.

How does this look on a monthly basis? In a recent month, a similar homeowner’s solar electric system produced 608 kWh. They consumed 552 kWh in energy, importing 397 kWh from the grid, and self-generating 211 kWh. They exported 448 kWh to the grid. Even though their solar produced more energy than they used, they still had a power bill:

$12.23 in basic service charges and meter fees
$45.66 in per-kWh energy charges
$18.64 in surcharges and taxes
-$31.50 in credit from exported energy
$45.03 total bill amount

Solar is certainly saving these homeowners significantly, but it’s complex–savings changes as a home shifts between self-generation, grid use, and energy export at each moment. So, it’s important that solar installers and consumers understand how export rates work, and that solar installers carefully model expected solar savings and bill amounts. More on this in the next section!

Different System Sizes, Different Savings & Bills

Each home has a different energy use pattern of how many kilowatt-hours they use each hour of the year. This can change based on the size of the home, if anyone is at home during the day, the age of the heating, ventilation, & air conditioning systems, how a homeowner sets their thermostat, how well the home was constructed and insulated, the age of appliances, and many other factors.

This is why we ask all our potential clients for annual hourly energy use data (often called 8760 data, because there are 8760 hours in a year) to be able to provide you an accurate estimate of the savings from solar and your estimated electric bills after solar.

We need to figure out for each hour of the year how much energy you’re importing, exporting, and self-generating with your solar electric system to be able to propose a system that meets your energy needs and goals.

On our proposal, you’ll see a lot of information. Let’s look at a sample home using the average amount of electricity used by a TEP residential customer, and some of the information we show on our proposal. First, you’ll see a graph that depicts the energy used each month, plus the solar production:

Energy use and solar production for an average TEP residential customer

On this graph, the blue bars represent the energy used each month, and the orange represents the solar production. For most months of the year, the solar produces more electricity than is used in the home.

Next, check out this image, which shows that solar is producing 102% of the electricity used in the home each year, and that self-generated electricity represents 42% of the energy the solar electric system makes:

Solar offset & self-generation information

And now, let’s look at the estimated monthly bills, which drop annual electricity costs from $1,621 to $517:

Monthly bills for a homeowner with a solar electric system

When we look at the total bill column on the right, we see that for most months, this homeowner would pay a small bill of $15-30. But for the summer months with higher energy use from air conditioning, they would have bills in the $60-90 range. For the system above, it would take the customer an estimated 7 years to recoup their investment in solar, also called a “simple payback.” That’s a great deal–especially for a system with major components that are warranted for 25 years  and are expected to last even longer!

But what will happen if we adjust the system size to produce less or more energy? Increasing energy production will decrease the percentage of energy that’s self-generated, and increase the percentage of energy exported, making the investment less favorable. Let’s look at what happens to simple payback times as the system size is decreased or increased, for the same energy consumption from above:

We can see that as the system size increases relative to the energy consumption as we move to the right, the percentage of self-generation (red line) decreases. This means that the percentage of exported energy increases, and results in a system that provides a less favorable financial return for the homeowner, increasing the time to recoup their investment (blue bars). Smaller systems that produce around 80-100% of energy use could have a simple payback period as low as seven years, while larger systems that produce 160-190% of usage could take 10+ years to reach simple payback.

Let’s bring it all together, in a table showing some analysis what different system sizes do for this average customer:

We’ve already discussed the relationship between system size and simple payback. But also consider the annual savings versus the net cost after tax credits, which show that there are diminishing returns when a system is oversized.

For example, if this homeowner wanted to install a system to “take their electric bills to zero,” we could propose an 8.14 kW system, which would reduce their annual electricity costs from $1,621 to $16. It would produce 160% of their annual usage, but would take an extra three years to recoup their investment, would take their rate of return from 12.5% down to 7.7%, and would cost them almost $6,000 more, even after tax credits! Not a great plan!

Additionally, Arizona utilities technically don’t allow systems to be sized over 125% of annual usage. Practically, because oversized systems provide discounted electricity to utilities, some may ignore this rule.

At Net Zero Solar, we generally like to design and install systems that produce 80-100% of the electricity annually used. As you can see, the 4.44 kW and 5.18 kW systems provide the best rate of return on your investment and keep installation costs lower.

We’re happy to install larger systems to account for future loads, just as long as clients truly know how everything works, and realize it’s not the best choice financially.

Why Do Solar Installers Promise Zero Electric Bills and Oversize Systems?

We see two main reasons that solar sales and solar installation companies do this. Many solar sales companies are disconnected from the realities of residential solar. Their salespeople who are knocking on doors in your neighborhood are mainly compensated on commission, and have little or no experience living with solar. After selling the job, these salespeople take their cut, and pass the installation onto contract installation companies who are focused on volume of installation, not quality or long-term service.

Both sales organizations and contract solar installers have a strong motivation to oversize the system, primarily because it increases their profits, even if it is a poor deal for consumers. These folks tend to knock on doors, bid high prices for oversized systems, embed significant costs in for any loan products, and disappear after the sale is complete. 

The other reason is that in the past, it was more practical to reduce your bill closer to zero. Solar customers prior to October 2018 had an option to use what’s called “net metering.” Net metering provided a 1-to-1 credit for energy sent back to TEP, meaning you’d be billed each month for only the net energy you used. For some homeowners on net metering who have a solar electric system that produces as much energy as they use annually, they may pay only $15-25 each month in basic service charges, but no more. As discussed above, with net-billing export rates, this doesn’t happen anymore.

Good Reasons to Choose a Larger System

We’ve explained why it’s generally a poor decision to oversize your solar electric system, but there are some cases where it makes sense.

With export rates, the amount your utility will pay you per exported kWh remains fixed for ten years. But if you add to your solar electric system during that ten year period, you’ll be “bumped down” to a lower export rate. So if you plan to add significant electric loads or increase your electricity use in the next few years, it might be better to go big in the beginning.

Some of the common reasons we see electricity use increase in a home are:

• Working at home or retiring

• Adding an electric vehicle

• Building an addition or adding a pool

• Changes in heating or air conditioning costs from changing thermostat settings after installing solar

• Changing from gas cooking to induction cooking

• Changing from gas heat to a heat pump

• More cooling days with hotter summers

It’s also possible to have energy use drop over time, if a homeowner does energy saving upgrades such as better insulation, newer heating and cooling equipment, newer appliances, or a heat pump water heater.

So how do we determine how much more energy you might use in the future? It will be an estimate in any case, but here are some thoughts and resources to consider about increases in energy use:

Working at home or retiring: This is hard to estimate, as each person or family’s energy use patterns are different. If your electric utility provides you with access to your daily energy use data online, you can look at your weekend or holiday usage across various times of the year, and determine how much more energy you use when you’re home. Being at home during the day often gives you more opportunities to use your solar energy as it’s generated, increasing your savings.

Adding an electric vehicle: Many electric vehicles will specify how many miles they will go per kWh of energy. For example, a small electric vehicle like a Nissan Leaf or a Tesla Model 3 will typically travel 3-4 miles per kWh. If you plan to drive 12,000 miles per year, you can divide 12,000 by 3, and estimate that this EV will use around 4,000 kWh of electricity each year, or about 333 kWh each month. For more detailed calculations which take into account a specific electric vehicle, your mix of city/highway driving and other factors, see this calculator from the Department of Energy.

Building an addition or adding a pool: For an addition, ask your architect if they are able to model expected electrical use. For a pool, find out from your pool contractor what pool filter pump they plan to use, how many watts it uses, and how many hours it will run. You can use this calculator to find daily kWh, and then calculate monthly or annual energy use.. If you plan to heat your pool with electricity or even with a heat pump water heater, this will use an enormous amount of energy. Ask your pool contractor to provide you with monthly estimates of energy usage for any pool heater.

Changing to induction cooking: Induction cooktops or stoves are more efficient than either gas or standard electric stoves by 15-20%. If you currently have an electric stove, switching to induction will reduce the amount of electricity you use. If you currently cook with fossil gas, check with your induction stove or cooktop manufacturer for an estimated kWh per month or year that your new stove will use.

Changing from gas heat to a heat pump: Your HVAC contractor should be able to provide you an estimated annual electricity use based on your local climate conditions. You may also find this heat pump calculator helpful in determining estimated energy use. One thing to consider is that with a new heat pump, your air conditioning is also likely to be more efficient if your current unit isn’t new.

Your Feedback and Questions

Thanks for reading this far! We’d love to hear your thoughts and questions in the comments section below. If you’re interested in installing solar for your home, please explore our website.

What Tucson Electric Power’s Proposed 2023 Rate Increases Mean for Solar Customers

The basics of TEP’s rate proposal

Back in June of 2022, Tucson Electric Power (TEP) filed an application with the Arizona Corporation to increase their rates for electric service. According to TEP, this rate increase is to account for increased costs, allow them to transition to cleaner energy sources, and allow them to better support the communities they serve. Other stakeholders such as ratepayer advocates have different perspectives, of course.

For residential customers, the proposed rate increase would be quite significant. It would raise bills on average around 12%, or about $14/month. Small residential users would see a slightly smaller increase, averaging around 11% or $12/month, while some large homes would see a 16% increase or more, with an average monthly increase of $35-45.

For commercial customers, small and medium sized businesses would experience similar percentage increases in their average monthly bills, while larger businesses would experience closer to a 6% monthly increase.

What Specific Changes is TEP Proposing?

For residential electric customers, your power bills typically have three components: Fixed charges, energy charges, and taxes & fees, as shown in the image below.

Fixed charges are pretty simple to figure out–you just pay that amount each month. TEP calls this charge the Basic Service Charge. For residential customers, TEP is proposing to increase these fixed charges by $2.00 each month. Most homeowners with TEP currently pay either $13.00/month for the residential basic plan or $10.00/month under the time-of-use plan.

Energy charges (often called “volumetric charges”) get a lot more complicated. These charges are based on the energy you buy from your utility. Depending on the specifics of each utility tariff, you might pay more for energy you use in summer compared to winter, or pay more for energy used during particular “peak” times during the day.

Many utility companies (including TEP) also have what are called “inclining block rates.” 

For example, the image below shows the summer rates proposed for TEP’s residential basic plan:

This means that when you use over a certain amount of energy each month, each additional amount of energy will cost you more per kWh. For example, very small users who only use 500 kWh/month would pay 14.35¢/kWh. But larger users would pay 16.50¢ for each additional kWh 3 they use in the 501-1,000 kWh block, and any kWh over 1,000 used in a month would cost 17.29¢. Although I’m only showing summer rates for clarity, there is also a difference in price depending on time of the year, and energy is more expensive in the summer.

For the residential basic plan that many non-solar homeowners use, TEP is proposing increases to the volumetric rates from around 12.5¢ to 15.5¢ for a typical customer–a significant increase! 

For the residential time-of-use rate that solar customers not on net metering must use, the volumetric rates are more complicated. This rate has an inclining block structure and seasonal differences, but also has peak and off-peak periods. As you can see from the image below, TEP is proposing that electricity would cost a lot more in the summer months during on-peak periods.

These are significant increases from the current rates. Currently, customers on the residential time-of-use rate pay a maximum of around 15¢/kWh for summer peak rates, with off peak and winter rates around 11-12¢/kWh.

Last, we have taxes, fees, and adjustments. They usually scale with the size of your bill, and can be between 5-20% of your total bill. They include things like state sales tax, city sales tax, fees to support the Arizona Corporation Commission, and adjustments for higher or lower fossil gas prices.

TEP is proposing several changes to the fees and adjustments on your bill, which they often call “Riders.” They are proposing eliminating Environmental Compliance Adjuster (ECA), the Renewable Energy Standard Tariff (REST) charge, and the Demand Side Management (DSM) charge. In place, they propose a new “Resource Transition Mechanism.” TEP says this fee would be used to facilitate lower-carbon resources and gradually pass these costs on to customers. TEP is proposing this charge be capped at 3% for now.  

How would TEP’s proposed rates affect existing solar customers who have net metering?

Solar customers who submitted an interconnection request to TEP prior to October 2018 had the option to use net metering. To learn more about how net metering works with TEP electric bills, see our post from 2017.

Because customers can stay on net metering for twenty years from the date of their installation and net metering stays with the house even if you sell it, there are still plenty of customers who have net metering.

Net metered customers would see an increase in their monthly fixed rates from $10.00 to $12.00. They would see the REST surcharge (currently $6-8 a month) go away, but other charges and fees would increase.

However, if you have a net metered solar electric system and your solar electric system produces 100% of the electricity you use in a year, you would experience a fairly small increase in your overall electricity bills.

If you have a net metered system and produce only a portion of your electricity use from solar, you’ll pay increased charges of around 11-15% on the net monthly electricity you purchase from TEP. 

What would the effects be for solar customers with export rates?

Newer solar electric systems have what we call export rates. These systems work in three different “modes” during a typical day – grid use, self-generation, and energy export. To better understand, please see our infographic.

TEP’s proposed rates would affect each of these modes in different ways.

First, let’s tackle grid use, when we’re importing energy from the grid. Solar customers would see the full increase in rates for this portion of the energy they use, with proposed increases in the 11-15% range, depending on how much energy they import from TEP. And on top of this, they’ll pay taxes and fees on any electricity they import. Not great.

Next, let’s look at self-generation (also called self-consumption). In this case, a home is producing energy from the sun, and using it immediately in the home. This reduces the need to purchase expensive electricity from TEP, saving customers more money if the proposed rate increases are approved.

Let’s now look at exported energy. Under TEP’s export rates, solar homeowners are paid a fixed rate for any energy they send out to the grid. This rate is fixed for ten years based on when a solar customer applied to interconnect their solar electric system with TEP’s grid. So even though electricity rates would be higher for energy TEP sells to you, they won’t pay you more for energy you sell to them. 

The image below shows the average prices for imported and exported energy for solar customers with export rates:

Last, like net metered customers, customers on export rates would see increased fixed charges of $2.00/month, but would no longer have to pay the $6-8 monthly REST surcharge.

The end result of the proposed changes is that all solar customers wouldn’t have as large of an increase in their power bills as folks without solar on their homes if the proposed rates are approved. However, all residential TEP’s service territory should expect at least small increases in their bills, even with solar.

How about for homeowners who install solar in 2023 or later?

For new solar customers, the effect of proposed rates would be similar to those experienced by current customers on export rates. Higher rates means higher savings from solar, but also higher cost for any energy imported through grid use. This means that solar becomes a more attractive option, both for current savings, but also as a hedge against any future increases in electricity prices.

For a home with average energy use that consumes 9,641 kWh per year, our preliminary modeling shows simple payback times for new solar installations will likely drop by about six months on average. For larger residential users that consume 18,741 kWh per year, we estimate that simple payback times may drop by as much as 3.5 years.

What happens next?

The rate case is currently moving through the Arizona Corporation Commission. Various stakeholders such as ratepayer advocates, large businesses like Walmart and Kroger, community groups, and solar organizations have “intervened” in the rate case. This means they are able to request data from TEP, fully participate in various hearings with judges and the ACC, file expert testimony, and respond to TEP and other stakeholders throughout the process. You can read all the filings on the rate case docket.

The administrative law judge in the case has also set out a schedule for the rate case. She’s scheduled several public comment sessions (the first tomorrow, February 21st), where TEP customers and other stakeholders can make comments via phone, or for some dates, in person at the ACC’s Tucson offices. 

The judge has also scheduled thirteen days of hearings starting March 29th, at the ACC’s Tucson offices. After final public comments are given on the first day, TEP, ACC staff, and intervenors will give expert testimony, and the same parties will be able to cross examine these expert witnesses.

From there, the case will go to the ACC for a vote, or if TEP, ACC, staff and intervenors agree, they may propose a negotiated settlement to be presented to the ACC for approval.

Questions? Please comment below!

Solar Power Myths, Part Four: Using and Maintaining Your System

We’ve explored myths around solar savings estimates, incentives & tax credits, installation, and more. In this last part of our series, let’s run through some of the persistent misconceptions about using and maintaining a grid-connected solar electric system.

A solar electric system on a flat roof.

Myth: Installing Solar Means I’ll Have Power When the Grid Goes Down

Reality: Unfortunately, standard grid-connected solar electric systems are not designed to generate electricity if the grid goes down. Each microinverter or string inverter must see the proper waveform, voltage, and frequency from the utility before it operates. 

This is for safety, so that the solar electric system doesn’t send electricity onto the de-energized grid, injuring utility personnel. It is also because utility-interactive inverters are not designed to produce their own grid signal, and they cannot support the surge in power needed to start electrical loads.

Want power when the grid goes down? You’ll need batteries. Stay tuned, though. Enphase Energy is working on a new product that will be able to supply some power to loads during the day when the grid is down without requiring batteries.

Myth: I Will Have to Keep a Close Eye on a Solar Electric System

Reality: Modern grid-connected solar electric systems require very little attention from the user. When the sun is shining, they produce energy, and yield savings for you! 

Your solar installation will have a monitoring system from Enphase Energy, which will allow you and us to keep track of system performance. If something goes wrong, both the installer and homeowner will receive an alert email, so any problems can be quickly resolved.

Myth: I Will Have to Change How I Use Energy if I Get Solar

Reality: This one is a bit more complicated. We usually estimate your solar savings based on your current energy use. This means you don’t have to change how you use energy to realize the estimated savings.

But if you are able to shift your energy consumption to when the sun is shining, that will save you more money. Similarly, shifting energy use out of peak times for TEP, Unisource, and APS customers will save more money.

You can learn more about how solar saves you money in our post Is Your Arizona Solar Installer Telling You the Whole Story?

Myth: I Won’t Have a Power Bill If I Have Solar

Reality: Sorry, despite the bleating of pernicious ads on Facebook, solar doesn’t mean you’ll never have a power bill. Every customer connected to the grid will have a monthly “basic service charge” of $10.00-25.00, plus taxes and fees.

Depending on your particular energy usage profile, you will likely also still pay some monthly charges for energy for each kWh used, especially during months where your air conditioner or other large appliances are running a lot.

To properly size your system to meet your desired savings, it’s especially important to use your real energy use data, if you have it. This hourly energy usage information is called “8760 data,” because there are 8,760 horse in a year. Some utilities such as TEP or Trico allow you to download this information on their customer portals. We invite you to read more about solar electric sizing myths.

Electrical Load Center and Downstairs Solar Equipment

Myth: Solar Electric Systems Require a Lot of Maintenance

Reality: If properly installed in the first place, solar electric systems don’t need much maintenance at all. As part of our installations, we complete a detailed inspection about a year after installation, making sure all fasteners are retightened, and the system is functioning well. We rarely find anything that needs to be corrected.

Some online marketers push solar module cleaning services, but modules are mostly self-cleaning with summer and winter rains. Only in extreme cases of dusty locations or significant bird excrement is additional cleaning required.

Over time, owners of rooftop solar electric systems should make sure that they complete any required roof maintenance, and occasionally visually inspect the solar electric system.

Myth: If I Need to Replace My Roof, Removing and Replacing My Solar Won’t Be Expensive

Reality: Unfortunately, removal and replacement of solar electric systems can cost several thousand dollars. Although it’s not too hard to remove the systems from the roof, reinstalling them on the roof is about as much work as a new installation, requiring many hours of labor.

We’ve seen claims from national installers such as “SunnyMetropolis,” that they will remove and reinstall systems for a nominal fee, like $500. We have not seen that happen in practice. In fact, we regularly receive calls from homeowners who used national installers for their system, but those installers cannot remove and reinstall their systems in a timely manner or for the promised cost.

Myth: Solar Panels and Conversion Equipment Don’t Last Long

Reality: The high-quality LG Solar modules we install are warranted for 25 years, and are expected to last much longer. The Enphase Energy microinverters we pair with the LG Solar modules also have a 25-year warranty. Even though there’s not much that can go wrong with a racking system, the Unirac SolarMount equipment we use also has a 25-year warranty

We would challenge you to find any other electrical or electronic products with a 25-year warranty! And just because the warranty is 25 years doesn’t mean these products won’t work longer–we have seen solar modules that are over 35 years old that are still producing plenty of power. 

A solar electric system on flat and tile roofs.
A solar electric system on flat and tile roofs.

Enough Myths (for now)

With the end of this four-part series, we’ll move to other topics. If you want to explore more myths, check out our previous articles in the series, which are linked below:

Thank you for reading! If you have any additional questions or thoughts, put them in the comments below.

Solar Power Myths, Part Three: Installation & Environment

We’ve now explored myths around Savings, Estimates, Incentives, and Taxes and about Sizing Your Solar Electric System. In this third part of our series on misconceptions and misinformation about solar, we’re going to talk about the actual installation of solar electric systems, as well as how they relate to the environment around us.

Proud owners of a solar electric system in Tucson!

Myth: Solar Will Damage My Roof

Reality: Not if it’s installed correctly! Any home improvement done poorly can damage your home, from a new water heater, to insulation, plumbing, or yes, a solar electric system. So it is important to understand how your solar installer will connect racking that holds the solar modules to your roof structure.

We use sturdy, industry-standard methods to connect solar racking to the roof, with an appropriate method for each roof type. For built-up flat roofs, this means connecting a steel standoff to the roof trusses using stainless steel hardware and sealant, then adding an all-metal flashing with sealant underneath, and roof repair fabric and sealant on top. 

An in-progress tile roof installation using tile hooks from Quick Mount PV.

For tile roofs and asphalt shingle roofs, we use high-quality, sturdy tile hooks and composition shingle mounts made by Quick Mount PV (you can see installation videos on the linked pages). For metal standing seam and metal trapezoidal roofs, we use products from S-5! For membrane roofs, we can work with your roofer who can properly seal standoffs after we attach them to the structure.

Myth: I Can Install Solar Even If My Roof is in Poor Condition

Reality: Nope! Some installers will want to rush you into installing solar on a roof that needs repair or replacement. This is a bad idea. When you do decide to replace your roof, you’ll have to pay thousands to remove and re-install your solar electric system. Instead, get your roof replaced or repaired before installing solar.

Myth: Solar Means I Have to Upgrade My Electrical Panel

Reality: It depends. If you want a large solar electric system, your existing electric panel is in poor shape, you want to add batteries, or you don’t have space for a solar breaker, you may need to upgrade your electrical panel. But for most people installing a grid-tie solar electric system in Southern Arizona, this will not be necessary. For more information, see our recent post, Why Do I Need to Upgrade or Replace My Electric Panel?

A home electrical load center. Plenty of room for solar and future electrical loads!

Myth: All Solar Installers Install the Same Way

Reality: Methods and quality of work can be very different from installer to installer! Some folks jump into the solar industry thinking that solar is a quick buck. In their wake, they leave poorly designed and installed systems, that won’t perform well, and can damage your home. Your installer should be able to explain how the systems are installed, and have the licensing, training, and experience required to make sure your solar electric system will last for 25+ years. 

Quality solar installers have usually been in business for a few years, and/or have highly experienced employees. Net Zero Solar has been installing solar for over eleven years, and many of our team members have been in the industry for over fifteen years. Chad & Louis are NABCEP Certified Solar PV Installation Professionals. We’re also proud that we spend time and money to continuously improve our installation process.

Myth: Solar Panels Aren’t Clean Energy

Reality: Solar panels are a clean, long-lasting source of energy. Most modules have warranties of 25 years, with expected lifetimes longer than that. Silicon solar modules (like the LG Solar products we install) do not contain toxic compounds. But because the manufacturing process often uses toxic substances, it is important to source from manufacturers that have a good environmental safety record.

Another easily disproved myth is that solar modules use more in energy and materials than the energy they will produce over their lifetime. This is absurd. In fact, the energy payback time for most solar modules is between 6-24 months.

We do believe that solar modules should be reused or recycled if at all possible, so we use the services of Recycle PV Solar as needed.

Myth: Solar Panels Are Ugly

Reality: We don’t dispute that there are some poor looking solar installations out there, tilted up at strange angles (we tend to refer to these as “fish gill installations”), or strangely sprinkled on rooftops. But given just a little bit of know-how, solar installations can be aesthetically pleasing clean power producers!

It’s also important to compare solar to other sources of energy. Just because you don’t see the negative effects in your backyard doesn’t mean they aren’t ugly sources of energy! The coal mine, uranium mine, or natural gas well that fuels electricity generation for your home exists, even if it’s in somebody else’s backyard. 

We live in a beautiful part of the world! Good looking solar installations help keep it that way!

Myth: Solar Roof Tiles Will Change the World!

Reality: Whether it’s a shady Facebook ad, or an emotionally immature billionaire in trouble (again!?) with the SEC for his tweets, somebody always seems to be shilling for solar roof tiles. A solar electric system that integrates into the roof and looks great! It’ll save money because you don’t have to buy roofing! 

Not so fast. A multitude of manufacturers have tried various solar shingle and tile products over the last couple of decades. None have been commercially successful. Many have had engineering problems, like poor performance in our hot desert climate. Although it’s now a few years old, this article from Eric Wesoff (a highly experienced industry journalist) shares some common sense on the subject. 

This solar roof product installed in Tucson was only producing about 50% of expected energy in the mid-2000s, due to poor ventilation practices that lead to very high cell temperatures.

More Myths: The Mythening

Yeah, we’ve still got more solar myths to explore over the next couple months. We promise, we’ll share about other topics soon. But before then, we’ll tackle myths about using & maintaining your system, and off-grid systems.

We had also planned to discuss myths about batteries & energy storage, but most of them have been covered on our new Batteries page.

If you’ve seen other myths or have questions, please comment below. We’d love your feedback!

Net Zero Solar’s Approach Regarding COVID-19

As everyone adjusts to our new realities based on the COVID-19 pandemic, we want to give you an update on what we at Net Zero Solar are doing to help flatten the curve, and reduce infections for those who may be most harmed. For extensive information on the pandemic, visit the COVID-19 page from the CDC.

Our first goal is to ensure the safety of our customers and our team members. We are regularly cleaning surfaces in our office and vehicles with appropriate products. Each person on our team has paid sick time, and has been instructed to stay home if they feel sick—especially if they have any symptoms associated with the coronavirus. If they feel sick, they will seek appropriate consultation and treatment from medical professionals, and not return to work until they have recovered. Our team is also limiting our contact with others outside our work hours.

We are working hard to keep our team healthy and fulfill our commitments to our customers. We’re also not standing this close to others anymore!

At present, we are continuing installations and service, with some modifications to our procedures. We also continue to provide solar proposals, but are limiting contact between our sales staff and customers. Read on to learn more.

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Solar Power Myths: Part Two, Sizing Your Solar Electric System

Last week, we started this series by exploding solar myths around savings, estimates, incentives, and taxes. As we continue, we want to dig into the myths around deciding what size solar electric system you need.

With changes in how home and business solar customers are compensated for energy they send to the grid, we’ve seen a lot of disinformation out there. Not so surprisingly, this incorrect information seems to benefit solar installers without many ethical scruples, not consumers. 

We love installing solar, but we know that choosing a solar company is like entering a long-term relationship. Honesty, understanding, and clarity are really critical! So before you decide to tie your home to a solar company for many years to come, learn about some more solar myths.

A solar electric system in northeast Tucson.

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Solar Power Myths: Savings, Estimates, Incentives, and Taxes

With so many Arizona homeowners choosing to install solar electric systems, we’ve also seen the rise of many misconceptions about how solar electric systems will work for consumers. In this first installment of a multi-part series, we’re sharing some of the mistaken ideas we’ve heard, focusing on the quotation process and financial aspects of solar installation.

A residential solar electric system in Tucson.

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Why Do I Need to Upgrade or Replace My Electric Panel?

Considering solar? Read on to understand the basics of electrical services, and the four reasons that you might need to have your home or business electrical infrastructure replaced or upgraded before you have solar installed.

Power to You

Each home connected to the electric grid has wires that come from the electric company. These are called service conductors. Service conductors can be overhead (through the air) or underground. They connect to electrical equipment on or near your home or business. We call that equipment an electrical service. 

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Should I Install Solar Right Now?

If you’ve expressed interest in solar on the internet, odds are you’re currently bombarded with ads encouraging you to go solar. While some of the information presented is accurate, many ads present hyperbolic claims designed to make you leap before you look. Read on to learn what’s true, what’s distorted, and how you can plan to install solar on a schedule most beneficial to you and your family or business.

A rooftop solar electric system in Tucson.

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